The present invention generally relates to fuse pullers and more particularly, to a fuse puller which enables a fuse inserted into a fuse mounting portion of an electrical connection box such as a fuse box to be pulled out of the fuse mounting portion smoothly.
Conventionally, fuse pullers are integrally molded by injecting resin into a molding die. As shown in FIG. 1, a known fuse puller 50 includes a pair of arms 51 coupled with each other at their intermediate portions by a coupling beam 52 and two pairs of claws 54 and 55 for gripping a fuse, which project from an inner face of one end portion of each of the arms 51.
In case the fuse is pulled out of a fuse mounting portion of a fuse box, etc., a pair of grips 59 disposed at the other end portion of each of the arms 51 are grasped so as to separate the claws 54 and 55 away from each other with the coupling beam 52 as a fulcrum. In this state, the claws 54 and 55 are, respectively, brought into engagement with four slots 61 formed at opposite sides on each of opposite faces of a fuse body 62 of a fuse 60 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Then, by releasing the grips 59 from grasp and pulling the grips 59 in a direction for pulling the fuse 60 out of the fuse mounting portion, the fuse 60 is pulled out of the fuse mounting portion.
However, when the fuse 60 is pulled out of the fuse mounting portion by holding the grips 59, there is a risk that by strongly holding the grips 59, the claws 54 and 55 are separated away from each other so as to be brought out of engagement with the slots 61, so that the fuse 60 falls off the fuse puller 50 undesirably. Therefore, in order to obviate this risk when the fuse 60 is pulled out of the fuse mounting portion, a portion of the fuse puller 50, which is disposed at the coupling beam 52, or a portion of the fuse puller 50, which deviates towards the claws 54 and 55 from the coupling beam 52, i.e., the arms 51 is grasped frequently such that the claws 54 and 55 are positively prevented from being separated away from each other.
In response to recent demand for higher density and more compact size of a rectangular electrical connection box 30 such as a fuse box, fuse mounting portions 31 are frequently disposed at four corners of a side wall 32 of the electrical connection box 30 as shown in FIG. 4. Especially, in a fuse box installed in an engine room, etc., since the side wall 32 is formed high for waterproofing, merely small gaps s1 and s2 exist between the high side wall 32 and the fuse puller 50 at a fuse mounting portion 31' disposed at one of the corners of the fuse box. In case the fuse 60 is pulled out of the fuse mounting portion 31' by using the fuse puller 50, an operator cannot easily insert his finger into the gaps s1 and s2 and thus, it is extremely difficult to pull the fuse 60 out of the fuse mounting portion 31' by using the fuse puller 50.
Especially, when the fuse puller 50 is pulled outwardly after the claws 54 and 55 of the fuse puller 50 have been brought into engagement with the slots 61 of the fuse 60, it is impossible to insert the finger into the gap s1 due to its small dimension in order to grasp the portion of the fuse puller 60 disposed at the coupling beam 52 or deviating towards the claws 54 and 55 from the coupling beam 52. As a result, since the operator is forced to grasp the grips 59 of the fuse puller 50, such a problem arises that when the operator grasps the grips 59 too strongly, the claws 54 and 55 are separated away from each other so as to be brought out of engagement with the slots 61 of the fuse 60 and thus, the fuse 60 falls off the fuse puller 50 undesirably.
As described above, in the known fuse puller 50, a total of the four claws 54 and 55 project from the inner face of the one end portion of each of the arms 51 so as to be, respectively, brought into engagement with a total of the four slots 61 formed at opposite sides on each of the opposite faces of the fuse body 62 of the fuse 60. In case the claws 54 and 55 are projected from the inner face of the one end portion of each of the arms 51, a molding die 65 for forming the fuse puller 50 includes a pair of split dies 66 separated from each other along a parting line S' corresponding to a lateral center of the arms 51 as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, the claws 54 and 55 projecting from the opposite sides of each of the arms 51 prevent the split dies 66 from separated from each other along the one-dot chain line in FIG. 5 so as to be released from each other in the directions of the arrows A. Accordingly, a central sliding die 68 for forming a region of the fuse puller 50 interposed between the arms 51 is required to be provided.
In case the central sliding die 68 should be provided for the molding die 65, productivity drops due to long molding time and production cost of the molding die rises. Moreover, disassembly and assembly of the molding die are time-consuming and troublesome.